Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-03

l.
more inhuman than the slave system in
its worst days. The convicts are mostly
negroes sentenced to long terms of i'm
prisonment for petty offenses, and they
re worse treated by the contract over
GERS than they were by the hardest mas
ers before emancipation. 1t is reported
dead against the system as it now exists
If he destroys it as slavery was destroyed
he should also be called al emancipation
ACCORDING to the agricultural reporter
of The Australasian. difference of fiji
teen TO seventeen bushels an acre in the
yield of wheat can be claimed to the
credit of irrigation in some parts of Vic
toria, splendid crops beside the Murray
having been grown on irrigated lands
whereas there was quite failure in the
same district where irrigation had not
been carried out. Grasshoppers and To-
Gusts have done great deal of damage
to the Victorian crops during the past
season.
A NOVEL case was disposed of in the
police court at Belleyille, Canada, one
morning recently. A baby was the cause
of contention. A Mrs. Keller had cared
for a baby belonging to lady named
Clapper, and was to receive a certain
monetary consideration for her service.
Mrs. Clapper wanted the child, but was
unwilling to pay the charges-$3. Mrs
Keller refused to surrender the child until
the money was paid, which caused Mrs.
Clapper to bring action to recover the
infant. The magistrate ordered the child
to be surrendered to its mother upon the
payment of the amount claimed.
A STRANGE case of observation-disclosures
came to light in the office of the recorder
of deeds at Washington recently. In
July, 1884, gentleman had 9 deed made
of record also of trust Frederick Doug
las at the time being recorder. Suisse
quently a deed of release was secured,
and Monday the papers were returned
for further record. In examining the
deed it was dated as of record July IS,
1884, and on the back signed James G..
Blaine, Recorder of Deeds" in the hand
writing of Mr.. Douglass, showing that the
late recorder was at that time absorbed
in mind about the Blaine boom to such
an extent as to write that gentleman's
name where the recorders should have ap-
peared.
The possibilities of the art of casting
metals do not appear TO be generally ap-
preciated. The introduction of COM
preston bronze 10 or 20 years ago, says
the Sanitary Engineer, showed that
metals might be cast in a commercial
way with SO fine finish that no subse-
quent labor was seeded. A single firm
uses the process in making bronze hard
ware, but it has not been generally in
trouced, nor used for other metals. Now
process is in operation in Passaic, n.
J., which produces equally fine work, but
is applicable to brass and other metals.
1t will cheaply reproduce copper plate
visiting card with sufficient delicacy to
print from. It can be used for any kind
of ornamental work that is capable of
being nodded.
The phenomenon of infiammable hui
man breath is not rare. In one case of
disordered digestion the patient emitted
infamable gas from the mouth, which
composed of marsh gas. In another
case the gas waa sulpheretted hydrogen.
A case is reported in the Baitish Medical
Journal in which, while blowing out a
match, the breath caught FIRE with noise
like the report of pistol, which was loud
enough to awaken his wife. One even
ing, while a confirmed dyspeptic was
lighting his pipe, an eructation of gas
from his stomach occurred, and the ig-
nited gas burned moustache and lips.
The origin of these gases is undoubtedly
the undigested- food, which in these cases
undergoes decomposition.
AMONG the favorite pastlmes of Mrs
Cleveland, during her hours of leisure
from the demands of her social duties, is
visit to the conservotories of the execu-
tive mansion. The plants number about
$4,000. In the collection are many vari
cites of value for their historic associa
tion Or rarity. The latest novelty is the
enthurium veutricolum, a new plant reared
from a seed found sccreted among the
roots of an orchid brought from Brazil
The seed developed into large plant
with slender, pointed leaves three feet
long. The flower is large and of a creamy